Not So, Social Media.

This week marks the beginning of a month of detoxing from Social Media for me. My reason (excuse) for using it is to promote my work and my beliefs, in whatever way, shape or form they come to me, to help other people understand that life isn't just about one thing or one way of looking at things, and essentially, to attract new work.

The reality that blows this theory out of the water though is that the majority of the clients I have, and have ever had, have come via word of mouth from other people that I've helped in the past. So what really keeps me on there apart from the satisfaction I get from creating a post or video that, if I'm looking at it from a commercial point of view, isn't achieving the aim? Maybe after my self-imposed 28 day ban I'll have reached some sort of answer to that.

The other reason for this ban is after having a conversation with a friend, Antonia (Creating a Safe Space for Healing) who specialises in helping people to recover from addictions and the fact that I'm going to be interviewing her for a podcast in the next few weeks, I wanted to find out for myself just how difficult weaning myself off social media would be. I don't consider myself to be an addict but the fact that I'm compulsively using these platforms, regardless of the justification I may feel I have for being on them, might suggest otherwise. And if that is reality, then it could also extend to the other 5 billion plus users (63% of the World's population) who also use it regularly.

One of the most disturbing aspects of using Social Media is the effect that is can have on younger people. The young mind is fertile ground and teenagers in particular, are impressionable. As parents we can be very prompt to ask them where they're going after they've eaten dinner, who they're going to be with and what time they should come home but we don't see the dangers that our child could be exposed to whilst they're sitting in their bedroom scrolling online because they're safe at home. Even as I try to research the statistics on harm to children outside of the home in order to compare it with harm they may experience online, I find the first paragraph mentioning grooming that takes place online and further on, cyber bullying.

Recently, British mother, Ellen Roome MBE - currently suing TikTok over the death of her son Jools - travelled to the United States to support other parents who have also lost children as a result of challenges posted on TikTok. Challenges that have circulated on platforms such as this have included;

• ‘Blackout Challenge’ which encourages participants to choke themselves until they lose consciousness.

• The 'Tide Pod Challenge' which involves ingesting laundry detergent packets and

• ‘Car Surfing' which encourages riding on the outside of a moving vehicle.

  
  

Any one of these could result in a death, and yet for various reasons it seems that the most likely action taken to a death that may have come as a result of a challenge, results in posts being removed from Social Media platforms and preventative measures put in place against it being posted again in the future.

Ellen has been fighting for access to her son's Social Media history since his death in April 2022. Current legislation prevents her having access to it due to Data Protection Laws as well as the difficult job of knowing which data needs to be preserved and released by OFCOM to the coroner as this has to be specific.

Jools’ Law (Joolslaw | Ellen Roome - Jools' Law)is a campaign, begun by Ellen which calls for:

• Automatic preservation of children’s online data within 5 days of a child's death.

• Release of that data to coroners, not directly to families, to ensure independence and safety.

• Clear, standardised processes so evidence is not missed because coroners or parents do not know which platforms or data types to request.

Her desire for a successful outcome to this campaign is not only as a means to make social media platforms accountable for content that is posted, but also so that she can try to understand why her son, a lively, sociable, outgoing boy, died in his bedroom due to an act ruled as suicide.

This aspect of social media is extremely disturbing and changes to the law, both in the UK and the USA, will inevitably have repercussions for the digital world, but our usage of internet technology continues to grow and social media isn't going anywhere in a hurry so we have an increased responsibility to protect the younger generations from the illusionary and sometimes twisted online world because, what happens on there, has repercussions in the real world.

My hope in my detox is to discover just how much of my life I'm giving up in order to post on my accounts. I can roughly estimate how long it takes me to create a post and publish it. A long time! During that time I'm not moving, I'm missing meals, I'm not socialising - yes, social media is supposed to be 'social' but I'm not actually talking to anyone and I don't have an interest in investigating what others are doing in their lives (i.e. being nosy) though I do enjoy checking up on how my friends are and seeing the photos they post. I have a feeling that in the next 28 days I'll be more productive which is a strange juxtaposition when you consider the point of my being on these platforms is to become more productive.

The toxic side of social media is the impact it has on our mental and physical health and wellbeing. Sitting scrolling instead of moving has a very negative effect on the body. I don't think I need to list the reasons why being immobile for long periods of time is a bad idea but also there is increased risk in significant changes to spinal posture because of being hunched over looking down at a phone screen.

There are also significant risks to the development of the brain. Addiction-like social media usage (ASMU) is linked to an increase risk in depression and diminished self concept. It has the same effect as any other reward-based system - a feedback loop of receiving a dopamine hit which reinforces behaviours linked to pleasurable experiences. It reduces sustained attention spans and impairs the working memory. It literally reduces the volume of grey matter in key brain regions. Non of this is good news for adults but it's going to have a greater impact on a younger brain that is still developing, both in terms of how it could encourage future addictive behaviours as well as how that child is able to develop emotionally amidst the challenges of the real world.

So what has happened so far on Day 1 of my detox. First of all I posted (yes I did, I went on social media to actually post about this detox) and within minutes I'd received a flood of messages over Facebook and Instagram, not to ask me why I was doing it, but in a wicked attempt I suspect to keep me on there. My people know me well! I removed the apps from my home screen but haven't deleted them so I can still hear them pinging at me but I am doing my best not to look even though it's driving me nuts not to. I'm not going to totally delete them and I will go back on them but for now I'm trying to ignore the temptation and see the pinging as a challenge to be overcome rather than something to give in to.

I also found that I kept picking my phone up and putting it down regardless of the pinging - do I always do that? I'm hoping that people might text me and perhaps even ring me or meet up with me instead of resorting to trying to contact me over social media or worse - forget about me because I'm no longer present on there. Have I always been this insecure? One day, just one day, has already given me a lot to think about.

I'm hoping by the time I record the podcast with Antonia I'll understand a bit more about the challenges of addiction and perhaps have managed to set some new, healthier habits in the time I'm off it. For now, I'm issuing my own challenge to you - join in with me? Take a break from your social media, even if just for a week, and see what you personally notice happens in your own life. Be aware of the small habits you've created such as the constant need to keep picking the phone up and how it makes you feel being 'disconnected' from your friends this way. We are far too reliant on it as a method of communication but there are other, better ways, to keep in touch and to keep your brain and your body working for you the way that nature intended them to.

Read more about Ellen Roome and Jools’ Law: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1dke9kq37yo.amp

Link to Podcast Channel: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IRvRWaAErInlRCUvvqzTw?si=iMPuKHkqSReJAzNvbbCntw